Noah Northausen, Jason Leocata, Charlie Lloyd, Ryan Cooper and Connor McLeod in full voice after the win, with club treasurer Brent Sutton enjoying the celebrations in the background.
Preliminary final game breakers Daniel Brock and Layne Baker have pivotal roles in Stanhope’s bid to cause an enormous upset in this weekend’s Kyabram District League reserve grade football grand final against the unbeaten Murchison-Toolamba.
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Brock had played only five games during the home and away season and hadn’t been seen for seven weeks prior to kicking one goal and featuring in the best when Stanhope won through week two of the finals.
He didn’t play in the Lions’ fighting three-point win to start the finals against Shepparton East, a team it had beaten earlier in the season by 14 points, but was back for the convincing 29-point win against Avenel in week two of the finals.
Brock has played 24 senior games with Undera in the last two seasons, having crossed to the club from Stanhope with a brief stopover at Picola United.
His best on ground display was not totally out of the ordinary, however, having been a star Under 18 player with Stanhope in 2019 when he kicked 65 goals in 17 games and also played 16 senior games in the same season.
As a 16-year-old he kicked 17 goals in 15 senior games in 2018 and played four seasons of Under 18 football with the Lions.
Stanhope reserves coach Shane Baker has guided his team from fifth on the ladder into the KDL grand final at Mooroopna this weekend.
Before the preliminary final cliffhanger the Lions had lost to the premier team of the last two seasons by 113 points (round one) and 51 points (round 15).
Murchison-Toolamba wil be faced with a new look Stanhope team when the teams face-off in the grand final.
Brock and star midfielder Layne Baker did not play in their round 14 meeting and coach Shane Baker was also on the sidelines for the game. Also missing from the line up was Josh Canny.
In a quirk of the draw the fifth-ranked Stanhope team also had to play the unbeaten Murchison-Toolamba team twice during the home and away season.
They lost those games by 56 and 37 points, but nobody will be writing the Lions off before the third meeting of the teams at Mooroopna on Saturday.
Murchison-Toolamba only scraped home in its qualifying final game against Lancaster by five points, which was by far its closest call of the season.
Layne Baker’s midfield work was a key to the upset win by Stanhope against Lancaster on Saturday at Murchison and he managed to out-manoeuvre Jordan O’Neill in this marking contest.
Stanhope will also have the luxury of brining Daryl Harrison back into the team for the grand final, providing an extraordinary amount of grand final experience.
Harrison is not only a multiple premiership player at senior level for Stanhope, but also a Goulburn Valley League premiership player.
Stanhope last won the reserve grade premiership in 2018, having won four other premierships in the 2000s (2003, 2005, 2008, 2010).
Murchison-Toolamba last won the reserve grade title in 2001, when the club was known solely as Murchison.
